Which means to get to the main point of a movie, conversation or plot of a storyline. And since Hollywood has been making some awful movies that just never get to the point, I've decided to review movies and say my piece. Live Long and Prosper

Hannibal Rising

Starring Gaspard Ulliel as Hannibal Lecter and Rhys Ifans as Vladis Grutus, “Hannibal Rising” follows the origins of the legendary killer. After the death of his parents during World War II, young Hannibal moves in with his beautiful aunt and begins plotting revenge on the barbarians responsible for his sister’s death.

The final movie in the series was supposed to tell us the back story for Hannibal, to be a prequel to the prequel “Red Dragon“. I couldn’t wait to see what happened to lead into the beginning of “Red Dragon”, cause it kinda just dropped us into the middle of a story. Well, unfortunately the story did nothing for the series, except tell us what made him gain a taste for human flesh.

The young actor who played Hannibal this installment, Gaspard Ulliel, looked so much like Andy Samberg it was ridiculous. I couldn’t even take him seriously because I kept thinking about Andy’s movie “Hot Rod”. Aside from that, I will give Gaspard props for nailing a degree of creepy that has come to be expected from Hannibal. Though it wasn’t as creepy as Anthony Hopkins version, it was still pretty good. The villain in the movie was played by Rhys Ifans, and I’m pretty glad I saw him as a villain for once. I’ve only seen him in “Danny Deckchair” and “Notting Hill”, both films were seriously lacking, and since he is scheduled to be The Lizard in the Spider-Man remake, I needed to see him play a villain. And he played a real bastard, so good to know. Aside from those two, the film didn’t have all that many main characters.

So here’s the deal with this movie. They make a lame attempt to tell the back story of Hannibal, while only touching on the cannibalism. It makes sense, I suppose, but the basic plot of the movie is a revenge story. He tracks down the soldiers who are responsible for his beloved sister’s gruesome death. After he finds the last guy, the movie ends. So it doesn’t tell anything that leads into “Red Dragon”. It was definitely the most gory of the series. Some of the death scenes are not for the faint of heart.

While I don’t believe it was a bad movie necessarily, it was a bad addition to the already interesting series. What would have made the movie both good and a valuable entry into the series is if they properly told the back story. I give it 2 monkeys due to that fact. If you are a fan of the series, there is no reason to watch it.